Autocar - First for car news and reviews

Orangewheels January 29, 2009 10:43 AM

"Yes the price is silly but it will come down with higher production and cheaper batteries. I don't buy the criticisms of the range either."

Thats the problem, according to the boss, the price has gone up despite things getting cheaper.

What range did you get out of the Tesla Chas?

I remember reading Clarksons scribblings on the car, and saying the actual range the Top Gear children managed was closer to 50 miles, and as the car was set up for economy the tyres are thin and there's no toe-in on the wheels, so handling was poor and it understeered a lot - did you find similar?

Chas Hallett. January 29, 2009 11:23 AM

The handling clearly isn't as good as the Lotus's - the weight of the batteries and the resulting distribution sees to that. The steering doesn't feel as good too.But it's miles away from 'poor'. As for the range. We managed 60miles on the track (during full-bore performance testing) but 170 miles in normal (and fast) road driving. Maybe TG should have tried it on the road too.

Geetee40 January 29, 2009 1:14 PM

Chas,

Are you suggesting that Top Gear don't actually do any real reviews of cars anymore.....

.... if you're not I will. Still good motoring entertainment though!

MrTrilby January 29, 2009 3:45 PM

It's good to read an objective review of a non petrol powered car for a change.

If you had any doubts as to the accuracy of Top Gear's road tests, this makes for interesting reading: www.reghardware.co.uk/.../top_gear_vs_tesla

lambo1 January 29, 2009 5:37 PM

Jeremy Clarkson is right- its impractical, far too expensive and its distance range is diabolical- its also unreliable and has no kudos amongst ordinary people- The Honda clarity has shown that its fuel cell technology that is the way forward.

Battery technology is still not good enough and may not be for a decade or even more

ordinary bloke January 30, 2009 12:31 PM

It might be good but it is undoubtedly far too expensive for most people, I can't see general acceptance of all-electric cars until the price comes down a lot. I have raed about the Fisker Karma, which sounds a much more sensible idea and looks fabulous, but no-one seems to have had a chance to drive one yet. Any chance that Autocar might get their hands on one ?  It seems to me that Tesla have been a victim of their own publicity, better to have kept quieter until the car had been fully developed ?

RobotBoogie January 30, 2009 12:35 PM

I like the idea of the Tesla but you'd have to wonder about a company that didn't know it was losing $30-40K on every vehicle sold.

yeswecan January 30, 2009 2:35 PM

Fuel Cell/ Hydrogen - we have been told it was coming for years. BMW and MERC have been testing mules for years. Where are they? If you think electric hybrids are overpriced, wait till you see what these cars cost. Honda is only doing test trials now in the US so we are 2-3 years away and even then there are no gas stations. Will punters pay more for petrol stations to install Hydrogen pumps? Whose going to supply it- I don't see any moves from the Big Oil companies to switch over. No tax incentives from the EU or local governments. I don't see any Euro makers who champion their green cars doing anything innovative like Tesla. The e-elise is not on sale. US perf' cars are held in high esteem with 0-60, traffic light standing starts and track testing not road holding on winding B-roads. Why pay for an e-elise here when you can get a Diesel TT, BMW 330D or await the Audi R8 V10 TDI.

jackjflash January 30, 2009 3:51 PM

So here you have a company with a vision of reinventing the car, trying to break out of the dogma that is the piston engine and for their effort they get wacked by short sighted weasels that want to cling to what makes them feel warm and fuzzy or think they have a better idea but refuse to put some capital where their mouth is. Because they didn’t have a background in automotive engineering they have made some mistakes calculating actual cost of the final product, so what I bet they still sell everyone they make and they have learned something in the process and it wasn’t to just give up. Fear not, it’s a transitional thing and won’t happen overnight, but it is as inevitable as the flat screen replacing the CRT. A decade or so ago flat panels of modest size were 25K or more and now are affordable to most consumers. Technological development isn’t stagnant; cost and reliability will improve. Kudos to Tesla for getting the ball rolling, they deserve to succeed.

NiallOswald February 1, 2009 5:56 PM

"I wonder what the average daily mileage of a Lotus Elise or Caterham is? Not more than 100 miles I suspect."

What about the average 'family saloon' or commuter? If 12,000 miles is still a reasonable annual figure, that's only 33 miles a day on average. Even if it's only driven on one day out of three, that's still only an average of 100 miles per day of driving.

Yes, 200 miles per charge is a big limitation, but I suspect there are actually many drivers for whom an electric car with a 200 mile range would happily cover most of their driving requirements.

I'm intrigued to know which company, and when, will produce the 'electric Model T'.

Chas Hallett. February 2, 2009 9:50 AM

NiallOswald you've made a good point. It's GM's main justification for the Volt's electric only range: nearly 80% of US commuters do not exceed 40 miles a day.

Tips April 3, 2009 12:09 AM

Peter George >peter_george@btinternet.com<

We are waiting for an exciting electric car. Ho Hum . . .

The Tesla seemed to do this and now the four door Panamera is what I want to replace my Lexus GS 450h SE-L. BUT did anyone see the TV program titled Who Killed the Electric Car. The reseach showed GM produced an electric car called the Impact in the 90's and advertised it out performing a 6 letre beast. Powers that be had the final production of the Impact crushed. When I read Tesla figures little different from the Impact I can only think what comes around, comes around again.